Is There More to Teach? The Role of Med Schools in Medical Malpractice

During the course of a medical education, students are taught every aspect of the human body, surgical procedures, how to react to emergencies, and how to diagnose problems. They are taught to set bones, stitch cuts and to read test results. Med students are taught about ethical issues, personal issues in patients, and what to expect when you give a patient bad news.

However, in most cases they are not taught about malpractice.

Of course, they understand that malpractice is the legal name for a medical error that could have been prevented. They briefly learn that malpractice insurance is a necessity. After that, the students are really given no proper instruction regarding malpractice issues or malpractice law.

Is Lack Of Education Responsible For Upped Medical Malpractice?

The question remains whether there is an increase in malpractice events due to the lack of educational training in this field. The answer is very complex. Some medical professionals believe the answer is yes, while most believe that medical malpractice is more of a result of an aggressive legal system.

At this time, only 37 percent of all medical schools require students to take a course that deals with medical malpractice as a main subject. These classes, designed to address the actions of the practitioner as well as the legal field, often lack in real-life knowledge. In fact, many believe that they turn new doctors into mini-lawyers and cause them to make medical decisions based on the risk of being sued and not on the outcome of the treatment.

When surveyed, many doctors believe that the high rate of medical malpractice is not a result of lack of education, but comes from the frustration a doctor feels from being restricted in treatment options from insurance companies. Many doctors believe that the malpractice rates would drop if insurance companies quit denying services that are necessary for the patient.

This continual battle with the insurance companies, especially the government based ones, leads to many poor decisions by doctors. In turn, the patient does not respond well to the insurance-approved treatment, and the doctor is sued for malpractice.

Of course, just as in any profession, you will also have the medical practitioner that is careless and whose actions result in injury to their clients. This is an aspect that cannot be avoided, regardless of training, education or insurance provider.

What’s the Solution to this Problem?

It is obvious that colleges should implement a required course that deals with the medical malpractice issues and policies in various states, whether it’sÂ Maryland medical malpractice or negligence and liability in Florida. However, this course should be designed by practicing doctors so that the real issues that these new doctors will face in their practice can be addressed. Simply teaching these new doctors about the legal system will not give them true knowledge of how to deal with issues in their practice.

Doctors should be encouraged to take refresher courses on this subject throughout their career. Not only will this provide them with updated information on the subject matter, it can also lead to necessary changes in the system.

Former healthcare professional Molly Pearce, offers up her take on one of the possible sources of the major problem of medical malpractice in the hopes that it might raise awareness of the issue and it’s prevalence in today’s hospitals. ExperiencedÂ Maryland medical malpractice attorneys, Price Benowitz LLP, deal with victims of medical malpractice everyday. They raise awareness through the wealth of information on medical malpractice found on their website and by doing on-air interviews for local radio and television.

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1 Comment

Absolutely worth topics. Because now a days there are lots of malpractices in the market to make the students worth in medical education in all the way. No matter how hard the situations are the entire guidelines and the course of actions to make the proper educational belongings in the area will be the perfect choices in each way. Thanks for sharing the information.